Businesses help launch Breathe Free Winter Park

By Michael W. Freeman

Winter Park Forum Editor|

Apr 27, 2015 | 11:19 AM

|WINTER PARK

It sounded like a no-brainer, said Jill Hamilton Buss, executive director of Healthy Central Florida. Why not eliminate cigarette and cigar smoke entirely at local restaurants – not just indoors, but also outside on patios as well.Winter Park, she said, seemed like the ideal place to launch this effort."Did you know that only 10 percent of people in Winter Park smoke, and in next door Maitland, it's only 7 percent," she said.The question, though, was whether businesses would voluntarily agree to go 100 percent smoke free, inside and outside. When Healthy Central Florida decided to launch Breathe Free Winter Park, to encourage restaurants and other businesses to do just that, they did not want to make it mandatory and alienate those companies."This is a completely voluntary effort," Hamilton Buss said. "We're not forcing anyone to do anything."On April 27, when Hamilton Buss joined several business leaders at Barnie's CoffeeKitchen at 118 S. Park Ave. for the official launch of Breathe Free Winter Park, those businesses had an answer for her.One of them was Kirsten Terrell, manager of Outback Steakhouse's Central Florida restaurants.She noted that the Outback restaurant on Aloma Avenue in Winter Park decided to go completely smoke free seven months ago, including for diners on their outdoor patio. It turned out to be a very successful move, Terrell said."We have seen awesome results from that," she said. With Winter Park Hospital located right across the street from them, it made sense to offer their patrons a totally smoke-free environment, Terrell added."For us, it was family first, and we're definitely a family-first environment," she said. "It really made sense for us to go completely smoke free. Ever since we did that, we've expanded our patios and added a few tables out there, and now our outdoor environment is different."The response, she said, has "been positive. We've had a great response so far."Jonathan Smiga, the CEO of Barnie's, said his company was also eager to offer a smoke-free patio."We are incredibly pleased to be a part of Breathe Free Winter Park," he said. "It's really out of appreciation to our guests."Breathe Free Winter Park will be an ongoing initiative aimed at eliminating smoking on all restaurant patios within the city. So far, the owners and managers of 21 restaurants -- including 4 Rivers Smokehouse and the Ravenous Pig, among them -- offer smoke-free patios.As Hamilton Buss noted, this citywide movement is the first of its kind in Central Florida. Although smoking is banned inside Florida restaurants, people dining at them can legally smoke on restaurant patios. To avoid the risks posed by secondhand smoke, Hamilton Buss said they decided to work with restaurants and bars to encourage them to voluntarily go 100 percent smoke-free – and that it could be good for business."The restaurants told us that the experience of dining on Park Avenue is ruined when people smell smoke," Hamilton Buss said.City Commissioner Sarah Sprinkel said the city supports this effort."It's great to live in a community that brings everyone together and says 'Let's solve this problem,' " Sprinkel said. "We're going to be the healthiest place to live, work and play."